The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-06-12
MY FIRST DEAD INDIAN.
By Buffalo Bill.


reer; but to be reminiscent a man must
naturally refer to incidents in that career
which have assisted him to attain that prom
| inent position, and that is why on this occa-
| sion refer TO my first dead Indian. This
much being granted have demonstrated be-
| You'd dispute that am not prompted by any
\ feelings of vanity when | stand before them
briefly sketching the outlines of my not I'M
| eventful career in the wild West, which will,
think, on its own merits, compare favora-
bly, with any biography hitherto written. l
would further state that, in briefly detailing
| the outline of my past career, rely entirely
on the facts to which / refer, and not on any
| claims which | may or may not possess in
being the master of any particular style OF
merit, but the reverse.
| l was born in February, 1S45, in the State
| of Iowa. need not go into details respect
| ing my family, and can dismiss my youth
briefly by saying that when | was not on a
| horse was just being thrown off one.
| soon became pretty smart rider and my
| practice with gun was pretty good, too.
was twelve years old when killed my first
Indian. 1t happened rather sudden. was
| walking out by the river, near Fort kearney,
| one night about 10 o'clock. My companions
| had got on ahead somehow and was quite
alone, when looking up toward the bluff
| bordering the river | saw, Illuminated by
! the moon, the head and shoulders of live
Indian, watching Inc with evident interest.
| Now had heard many stories of the dolngs
of the red men, and had also been inculcated
| with thorough distrust of their ways; so.
| quickly coming to a conclusion as to what
should do, brought my gun to my shoulder
| and, aiming at the head, Tired. The report
sounded louder than usual in the silence of
| the night, for it was past 10 o'clock, and was
| followed by q warwhoop such as could only
be built up by an Indian, and the next in-
slant over six feet of dead Indian came
| down splash into the river.
| Soon after this l went to business. Itook
| to the plains and, in the employ of Messrs.
| Russell and Simpson, soon learned the ms
| and outs of the wild life led with horses and
| cattle-driving teams, riding express ponies
| and getting to know the land. Among other
| things, | somehow found out how to hunt
! buffalo, sport second to none, if you know
| how. l shall never forget the faces OF five
| officers l met on the prairie once, now many
| years ago. They were after herd of buff
| alo. So was l. We exchanged views
| gave them my ideas, they gave me their
Sympathy. "You surely don't expect to
| catch buffalo with that Gothic steed," said
they.
II am going to try" said.
| you'll never do it, man alive" said the
captain. sit wants a fast horse to overtake
buffalo,
| Does Itg" responded
Eyes, but you can come with us, If you
| like
And did like. There were eleven buffalos
| in the herd and, while the officers rode
| straight at them | headed the leaders and
| got up to them with ease. The horse which
my companion had been chatting was the
| famous Brigham, who knew as much about
the sport as l did; he speedily did his part
of the business. A few jumps brought us
| up to the herd Raising 'Lucretia Borgia, "
my trusty weapon, l aimed at the first ami
NAL, fired and brought him down. Brigham,
| like the ideal animal that he was, carrying
me rapidly up to the next brute, not ten feet
| away; and, when had dropped him, bound
| ed on to the next, and so on, until had slain
| tie whole eleven animals, and then my horse
stopped. l dismounted to regard my work
| with feeling of satisfaction. Those officers
| rode up shortly and | shall never forget their
| expression as they surveyed the work of five
minutes lying around.
My horse Brigham was an exceptionally
| intelligent brute He took the keenest de-
| light in sport and invariably took pains to
| aid me in getting game All he expected of
me was to do the shooting. The rest was his
work. He would always stop if the buffalo
| did not fall at the first shot, so as to giveme
| a second chance; but if / did not bring him
| down then he would go on disguised.
1t was in 1867 that the Kansas Pacific
| track was in the buffalo country and the
company was employing over 1900 men in
| the making of the road The Indians were
very troublesome and it was not always
easy to get sufficient supplies of fresh meat
| for the men. 1t was about this time that
| Messrs. Goddard, the contractors to tho con-
structors, made me handsome offer, pro-
vided would undertake to hunt for them.
They required twelve buffalos per diem.
The work was somewhat dangerous owing
| to the Indians. but the terms were hand
some-S500 per month. took the offer and
in less than eighteen months, during which
time my engagement lasted, killed ,2S0
butfalos single-handed, and had many scrim-
images with the Indians and hairbreadth
escapes. 1t was during this period Of my
career that / had my celebrated buffalo
killing match with Billy Comstock, the
noted scout, then at Fort Wallace. The
terms were settled as follows: We were to
hunt one day of eight hours, from 8 a. m.
TO p m. The stakes were $500 aside and
the man who killed the most buffalo was to
be declared the winner The contest took
place twenty miles east from Sheridan and
many thousand people came from all parts
to see the sport. We were fortunate on
finding animals and had plenty of sport.
We made three runs each and killed sixty
nine buffalos, my rival being content with
forty-six Not a bad days work, day
which is an historical one for me- inasmuch
as since then have invariably been referred
to in all parts Of the civilized world as Buff
alo Bill.
have now come to that point in my life
when events, which in this case did not cast
their shadows before, brought about an en-
tire change in the routine of my career, a
point which may be said to close the first
volume of my history / feel, therefore,
that this is an appropriate moment at which
to break off this narrative, the more espe-
cially as the numerous claims on my time
and attention, social as well as imperative,
render it no easy matter for me to sit down
and WELD the pen as energetically as / could
"Lucretia Borgia" years ago. Before doing
so, however, l should greatly like to say
few words respecting topic which much
regret to find is understood in the inverse
proportion to which it is discussed. | refer
to that unique specimen of humanity, the
cowboy of to-day. In order SD'be brief L
will. like cowboy, take the bull by the
horns and lay down the axiom, once for all
and most emphatically, that cowboy is
not blackguard; nay, nore-he is in nine
cases out of ten better than his fellows, more
especially as in nine cases out 1f ten his fell
lows are the offspring Of an 6ffete civil ia
ton. He has certain attributes that An-
mend him TO creation. He is manly, geiA
Gus and brave. He is not merely creaturdtN
impulse, but uses the gifts given him by hs3
Maker with discretion which might welH
be copied by more of us In putting in these